The Cult Of Guy Fieri

Today's Wednesday's Dining section of the New York Times had a huge article devoted to Guy Fieri. He is one of the newest celeb chefs with his entertaining personality and his love of all things food. Unlike other chefs however he has following and fans who would go to the ends of the earth to see him in person.

The article , written by Dining regular Julia Moskin, charts Fieri's rise to fame and how he got there. he started by cookign his own dinners thanks to having parents who were big on macrobiotic foods. Not a good life for a future foodie who loved cheese. meat and sweets. He majored in hospitality at the University of Nevada and went to work for the Stouffer;s corportation back in 1987. Now he had several cooking shows including my favor Diners, Drive Ins and Dives " on the Food Channel as well as several different restuarants ranging from Italian, Johnny Garlic, to a strange Texas Japanese fusion called Tex Wasabi. .

The celb chef phenomena isn't new. Th ere was Gustave Escoffier during the 19th century and dhis cult of foodies who follwed him. Of course there were Julia Child and Graham Kerr along with Jacques Pepin. There were and some still are quietly elegant cooks. Fieri comes on as the dude from the dorm room next door. He makes his recipes and his restuanrtats fun. It's not a chemistry .It s just a mishmosh of ingredients to produce the best dishes and flavors ever.

Guy Fieri probably won't be th e last Food Channel chef with a big following but he is the most personable. He reaches out to his audience in a friendly "Com e here dude and try this" way. That's what his fans like. That's what fellow foodies like as well.